Orange County Criminal Attorney Blog

An Orange County man, 31 year-old Stephenson Choi Kim, received a sentence of life in prison on April 30, 2012, for a 2004 shooting that killed one person and wounded four. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty but dropped it in 2011 after the jury deadlocked on the issue. Jurors had found that the murder was committed as part of a "criminal street gang," a special circumstance alleged by prosecutors.

Prosecutors claimed that, on March 14, 2004, Kim and six other gang members were driving around Orange County in several cars, armed and looking for rival gangs. They stopped at the Fifth Wave Cafe in Cypress. Two of Kim's companions went inside, where they reportedly approached a table of seven people and asked if any of them belonged to a gang. One person told them that he used to belong to a gang, but not anymore. The two left the restaurant and told Kim what happened. Prosecutors said that Kim then entered the restaurant and fired repeatedly at the group with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. He shot 22 year-old Venus Hyun, whom prosecutors described as an "innocent bystander," in the back. He shot at six other people, hitting four of them, before exiting through the restaurant's back door. Another gang member had allegedly pulled a car around to the back of the restaurant to wait for Kim. Hyun died at the hospital, and the other four survived.

Continue reading "Man Gets Life Sentence for 2004 Orange County Murder" »

Cities in Orange County have curfew laws that prohibit minors from being outside without an adult present after a certain time. The curfew deadline is either 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., depending on the town. The typical rationale behind curfew laws is to reduce certain risk factors for youths in an effort to prevent juvenile crime. Keeping juveniles off the streets at night, the reasoning goes, should reduce the overall juvenile crime rate. As part of its effort to combat juvenile crimes, the Orange County Sheriff's Office conducts periodic sweeps across the county to catch curfew violators. The rationale for, and benefits of, these sweeps is subject to question, however.

The Sheriff's Office states that its goal with curfew sweeps is "intervention, not prosecution." A Santa Ana police detective interviewed by KABC in Los Angeles said that they try to teach youths caught up in the sweep that they are not automatically presumed to be criminals, but that they could easily become victims by violating curfew. Police focus the sweeps on areas with high levels of criminal and gang activity.

Law enforcement across the county conducted a two-and-a-half-hour sweep on the night of Thursday, March 15 and into the early morning of March 16. They reportedly detained twenty-six juveniles found to be out in violation of the curfew. Officials said that previous sweeps had brought in far more juveniles, and attributed the low number to cold weather keeping people indoors.

The detained juveniles were taken to Sheriff's Department facilities in either Orange or Aliso Viejo. Authorities held them there until their parents arrived to get them, but they were not allowed to leave right away. According to the O.C. Register, both the parents and their children were "interrogated" and put in contact with counseling resources. Law enforcement characterized this as "an immediate, one-on-one intervention." Parents and children were required to meet with police officers and district attorneys before being released, and the parents also had to watch a fourteen-minute documentary that reportedly addresses gang violence.

Continue reading "Orange County Sheriff Conducts County-Wide Curfew Sweep" »

Emmanuel Martinez was released halfway through trial when it was discovered he was not the man identified by a victim during a lineup.

The incident started when a woman reported to police that a man had approached her and her brother with a knife. The man then lunged at her and flashed a gang sign. Martinez, who was outside of the apartment complex, was detained and subsequently identified by the woman as the attacker. It was only after the preliminary hearing that Mr. Martinez's attorneys reviewed a police audio tape which revealed a mistake had been made. The victim has apparently identified someone else in the lineup. Once this was discovered, Mr. Martinez was released from custody, after having been incarcerated for 3 months.

Eyewitness identification is always an important issue in criminal cases. Although people tend to give eyewitness identification great weight, it can often be false. Many reports have been written about the value of eyewitness identifications in criminal cases, many of which cast doubt on its evidential value. Besides being misinterpreted, as in this case, it can also be absolutely wrong...even though the witness is adamant about its truth.

Good lawyers view eyewitness identification with a grain of salt. It should be closely examined so no client, like Mr. Martinez, spends 90 days in custody for nothing.

THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF AND OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES VOICED CONCERN OVER THE STATE'S EARLY RELEASE OF THOUSANDS OF PRISON INMATES.

ACCORDING TO REPORTS, THE SHERIFF BELIEVES WHILE THE RELEASE WILL LESSEN COSTS TO THE STATE IT WILL, IN TURN, BURDEN THE BUDGETS OF LOCAL AGENCIES. AS OUTLINED, THE RELEASE PROGRAM WILL ENABLE INMATES TO EARN CREDITS TO REDUCE THEIR TIME BY PARTICIPATING IN SUCH THINGS AS FIRE FIGHTING AND DRUG PROGRAMS. IN ADDITION, ONCE RELEASED, INMATES WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO SUPERVISED PAROLE AND/OR TECHNICAL PAROLE VIOLATIONS.

THE PROGRAM DOES SEEM TO HAVE SOME FEATURES WHICH ARE FAVORED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES, SUCH AS GPS SUPERVISION OF PAROLEE GANG MEMBERS AND 2000 ADDITIONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICES TO BE USED AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO INCARCERATION FOR PAROLE VIOLATORS. THE SHERIFF, WHO HAS HER OWN BUDGET PROBLEMS, HOWEVER, ANTICIPATES THIS MOVE WILL ULTIMATELY RESULT IN AN INCREASE IN COUNTY JAIL COSTS AS THE NUMBER OF FELONS IN THE JURISDICTION WILL INCREASE, THEREBY, LIKELY INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF CRIME AS WELL.

IT IS THE OPINION OF THIS WRITER THAT THE SHERIFF'S ARGUMENT AGAINST EARLY RELEASE IS FLAWED. WITH THE COST OF WAREHOUSING MANY NON-VIOLENT INMATES RISING, IT IS FOLLY TO ARGUE THAT UPON RELEASE THESE INDIVIDUALS WILL AUTOMATICALLY END UP IN LOCAL JAILS. A BALANCING ACT MUST BE DONE BETWEEN PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC AND THE COST TO THE PUBLIC. THE TIME FOR DISCUSSION IS NOW.